Dancing Smoke and Autumn Leaves
by LemonFerret
Summary: "His bright blue eyes glanced up to watch the smoke from his cigarette float up, dancing away in the slight breeze of the crisp autumn day." Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi catch Naruto smoking at the training grounds. Angst, SasuNaru, yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

A/N – Alright, this is going to be a relatively short multi-chapter story (3 chapters, at most). I was going to make this a one-shot, but I feel like it'll make more sense as a multi-chap… that, and I just really wanted to submit this. :D The pairing is SasuNaru, and I promise there will be some shonen-ai (maybe some – dare I say it? – YAOI) in the next chapter. :D

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Naruto Uzumaki closed his eyes and breathed in the smoke from the cigarette in his hands. Slowly, he exhaled, and his eyes slid lazily open, lips twitching into a relaxed smile around the white cylinder in his mouth. _Finally_, he thought, _I haven't had a chance to unwind in ages…_

Lightly clasping the cigarette between his middle and index fingers, the blonde shinobi shifted himself so that he was more comfortably perched on the wooden pole at the training grounds. He looked down at his impromptu seat fondly as he brought the cigarette back up to his lips and continued to inhale and exhale deeply. _This is the pole Kakashi-sensei tied me to when I couldn't get a bell from him a few years ago, _Naruto thought, reminiscing. _Heh, and then Sasuke and Sakura fed me, since I couldn't do it myself! _His bright blue eyes, dimmed a bit by nostalgia, glanced up to watch the smoke from his cigarette float up, dancing away in the slight breeze of the crisp autumn day. Closing his eyes once more, Naruto sat, relishing the taste of the nicotine on his tongue, the slight weight of the cigarette in his hand, the gentle rustling of the forest leaves in the caressing breeze. _Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale… This… this is perfect, _Naruto thought. _This moment. So peaceful…_

Naruto's moment of bliss, however, was interrupted by the sound of a dry orange leaf being crushed underfoot. Quickly, he put out his cigarette, stubbing it against the wood of the training post and then hopping off, sliding the butt into his pocket. He knew that his friends and comrades would not approve of his habit, and had gone to great lengths to try and keep it a secret. Normally it wouldn't be such a problem, a shinobi who smoked – after all, Asuma-sensei had smoked like a chimney and no one had given him too much of a hard time. Then again, Asuma had been an adult. Naruto, however, was still only seventeen; technically, it was illegal for him to smoke in Konoha. With a friendly smile that revealed none of the sudden panic he felt in his gut, Naruto turned to greet the newcomer.

To his surprise, Naruto found himself meeting the shocked stares of Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei. True, he had put his cigarette out quickly, but he could tell by the shocked looks on their faces that he had not reacted fast enough. _Damnit! _Naruto cursed, _I shouldn't have been so careless!_ _Well, I'm still not sure how much they saw, might as well fake innocence for the time being…_ Smile still in place, Naruto raised his hand in a casual greeting. "Hey there, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme, Kakashi-sensei! What's up?"

An uncomfortable silence followed during which Sasuke and Kakashi exchanged wide-eyed looks behind Sakura's back, while the kunoichi continued to stare at Naruto. Sakura was the first of the three to recover from her momentary speechlessness. "What… What's up?" she roared. "What do you mean, WHAT'S UP?"

_Fake it, fake it, fake it… _Naruto stepped back in response to the aggressively approaching kunoichi, hands held up as if to calm the pink-haired medic-nin down. "Sakura-chan? What's the matter, dattebayo?"

At this, Sakura exploded. "WHAT'S THE MATTER? Are you STUPID OR SOMETHING? WE JUST CAUGHT YOU _SMOKING_, THAT'S THE MATTER!" she shrieked.

At this accusation, Naruto's cheeks tinged slightly pink. "Wha-wha'd you mean?"

"_Tch!_" At this, the previously silent Uchiha finally responded. "Don't even deny it, we can smell it on you, Dobe!" Sasuke spat, a look of revulsion crossing his pale features. "You smell like an ashtray!"

"And besides… we've been watching for a while, anyway" Kakashi revealed in a low voice, his one visible eye staring intensely at his former student.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" Sakura finished, driving her annoyance home with a punch that sent Naruto flying backwards.

After he landed, sprawled out on the leaf-coated grass, Naruto looked up dazedly into the disapproving faces of his three comrades. Sakura's angry glare, Kakashi's frowning eye, and… and Sasuke's condescending, hateful sneer. Naruto blinked hurriedly as tears burned behind his eyelids, threatening to spill over at any second. His head bowed forward, concealing the normally bright and happy face with bright yellow hair. Chuckling emptily under his breath, he looked at the three of them, muttering, "Well wouldn't you like to know…" Before any of them could react, Naruto raced off, leaving only the stale smell of cigarette smoke and a lone tear which landed on Sasuke's cheek in his wake.

With a disbelieving expression on his normally passive face, Sasuke slowly reached up and touched the wetness left on his cheek, almost as if to confirm its existence. Exchanging a confused look with Kakashi and a shocked one with Sakura, Sasuke slowly turned to look in the direction Naruto had run. "Na-Naruto?" he breathed.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N – Holy crap, this is angsty. I didn't know I was capable of such angst, to be honest. O.o

So here's Chapter 2. I tried _really_ hard not to make Sasuke too OOC, but it was tough. Especially since in canon, Sasuke's a heartless, selfish douche bag who doesn't deserve Naru-chan as a friend… and who certainly does not deserve his wonderful emo hair. Douche. :[

Chapter 3 should be up in a few days or so. Um, I was thinking of having the third (and last?) chapter have yaoi in it. Yes/No? If you have an opinion, if you could let me know, that'd be cool. :D

Ooh, special thanks to all my reviewers and favorite story-ers! You make me feel as special as Sasuke-Douche thinks he is! Arigato! :D

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Naruto ran, flinging his lithe body from tree to tree, his legs moving as fast as they could in an attempt to escape his friends' disapproval, to forget Sasuke's resentful gaze. He would have run farther if he had been able to see properly… but the stinging tears blurred his vision and forced him to a premature halt. Leaning against a large tree, Naruto slid down until he came into contact with the ground, bringing his legs up to his chest and resting his arms on his knees, blue eyes staring blankly ahead as tears leaked in torrents down his scarred cheeks. _Why… why did that bother me so much? _Naruto wondered vaguely. _Sakura always hits me and is yelling at me, and Kakashi-sensei didn't do anything bad… b-but Sasuke…_ Naruto's face crumpled in embarrassment as he remembered the hateful, disgusted look on Sasuke's face. _S-Sasuke's reaction… hurt the most... _

As the blonde shinobi sat there, immobile, Sasuke's voice echoed through his mind, repeating like a broken record. _Tch! Don't even deny it, Dobe! You smell like an ashtray… an ashtray… Dobe! Tch! Don't even deny it, Dobe! … Dobe! … Tch!_

Ever since Sasuke had come back to Konoha, Naruto had felt different around the Uchiha. Now, more than ever, he cared about what Sasuke thought of him; whenever Sasuke was around, Naruto found himself thinking answers to questions through thoroughly before answering, tidying up his outfit, running a hand through his hair to make it look better… _an ashtray… Tch! Dobe!_

"Enough!" Naruto yelled, scaring away the birds perched in the tree above him. The blonde sighed, dazedly shaking his head._ …I need a smoke. _

Reaching with trembling hands into his weapons pouch, Naruto pulled out a cheap lighter and a pack of cigarettes. There were indeed perks, Naruto had realized, to living in the bad side of town. Mainly, that it was quite easy to find someone there either willing to sell cigarettes to a minor or to buy them for him, for a small tip. With a deft flick of the thumb Naruto lit up, inhaling the familiar musty taste eagerly. As the number of drags increased, Naruto found himself slowly relaxing. He flicked the butt away and reached for a new cigarette, focusing on breathing in and out, in and out, savoring the taste of the smoke on his tongue.

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Sasuke raced through the trees, Sharingan activated, looking for signs that would lead him to the Dobe. A strange, half-forgotten feeling clenched his gut, spurring the Uchiha to increase his speed, frantically scouring the trees for a familiar bright patch of orange and yellow.

"_We have to follow him," _Kakashi had said, _"Naruto... doesn't seem to be himself." _At this Sakura had nodded fervently, a strange, almost guilty look in her green eyes. _"But Kakashi-sensei, where should we look?" _ she breathed, staring off in the direction Naruto had fled. _"We don't know where he went…"_

Surprising even himself with his urgent tone, Sasuke had rounded on the medic-nin and spat: _"Then that just means we'll have to search the entire forest." _And then, without waiting for an answer: _"I'll take everything south of the Village, since I'm fastest. You two divide up the rest." _And then he had disappeared, speeding off in anxious search of a dobe he supposedly couldn't stand.

As he ran, Sharingan whirling, stomach clenched, Sasuke remembered the wetness on his cheek from when Naruto had fled. _The dobe… was crying? _It was a concept almost too out of character for Sasuke to accept.

Suddenly, Sasuke ran straight into a cloud of smoke. Coughing and wheezing, he almost fell out of a tree, barely catching his balance at the last minute. After his eyes stopped watering from the stinging cloud, the Uchiha turned to follow the source of the smoke, which seemed to be coming from behind a nearby trunk. _Naruto…?_

Rounding the tree with incredible speed, Sasuke stopped suddenly, staring wide-eyed at the scene in front of him.

He had found Naruto, all right. The blonde sat half-sprawled against the large tree trunk, holding a partially-smoked cigarette in shaking hands. His face was red, and tears dripped down his cheeks. But that wasn't the worst of it. Sensing a presence watching him, Naruto looked up – and Sasuke was suddenly staring into the deadest, most painful blue eyes he had ever seen. "Na-Naru…to?" Sasuke stuttered, pure shock plainly written all across the normally indecipherable features.

Peering up through a haze of hurt and smoke, Naruto's mouth twitched. He croaked, "Hey, Teme. 'Sup?" His face contorted around the white cylinder in his mouth into a gruesome imitation of his normally dazzling smile, eyes glinting almost maniacally above tear-streaked skin.

Horrified, Sasuke took a halting step forward, and then sprinted the rest of the way until he was kneeling in front of the blonde. "Dob–!" Sasuke started coughing violently, having just directly inhaled Naruto's second hand smoke.

"Heh, careful, Teme," Naruto whispered, the same twisted half-smile marring his features. "This stuff burns."

"–_cough – _Then why – _cough_ – are you smokingit _willingly_? – _cough – _Dobe!" Sasuke forced out in between gasps, a strange sort of smoldering anger starting to build up in his gut. Instead of an answer, Sasuke only got an empty chuckle and another puff of smoke blown in his face. Spluttering, he reeled backwards on his knees, and was reduced to hacks and wheezes for the next minute. At the sound of more raw laughter, the slight anger Sasuke had been feeling welled up inside him. "Stop _laughing!_" Sasuke yelled, harshly grabbing the blonde and gripping the orange-clad shoulders with his strong, white hands. Immediately the giggles ceased, but the tortured look in the blue eyes remained.

With his hawk-like speed, the Uchiha suddenly reached forward, snatching what was left of the awful cancer-stick and putting it out, tossing it behind him. With an outraged noise, Naruto made as if to catch the cigarette in mid-air, but predicting his move, Sasuke grabbed his wrist mid-swing. "Teme, what the hell?" Naruto cried, struggling against the Uchiha.

"Why are you smoking, Dobe?" Sasuke questioned, his normal mask-like expression back in place.

"That's none of your business! Let me go!" Sasuke noticed that Naruto was already tiring from their brief struggle, panting heavily. _How long has he been doing this? _Sasuke thought anxiously. _His lungs are severely damaged, he can barely breathe… _

"_Naruto! _Answer me!"

"Fuck off!" Naruto spat, with uncharacteristic venom in his words. And then, when he realized that Sasuke wasn't going to release him anytime soon: "I said _let go_ of me!"

"No, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, finally exploding. "You've gone from being the most idiotically happy person in Konoha to a complete wreck in a day! That doesn't just come about for no reason! What HAPPENED to you?"

"_Fuck!_" Naruto swore furiously. Before the Uchiha could respond, the blonde viciously grabbed the front of Sasuke's loose-fitting robe and yanked roughly forward, bringing Sasuke's lips crashing onto Naruto's. Sasuke's eyes went wide with shock and he tried to pull away, but Naruto's hands kept their tight grip on his collar, preventing him from turning away. _"He…tastes like cigarettes"_ was the only thought Sasuke seemed to be able to form as the blonde underneath him began to move his lips against his. Suddenly Sasuke became acutely aware of a wetness touching his cheek, and he realized that Naruto was crying into the kiss. After a few seconds Naruto convulsed forward into himself; he was sobbing now, gasps wracking his frame. Sasuke knelt over the shuddering figure, wide-eyed and frozen with shock.

The blonde looked up at the shaken Uchiha. "Are you happy now?" Naruto screamed, hysterical, tears spilling down his face. "Well, Sasuke, _now you know. _So get the hell OFF ME!"

With this, Naruto was finally able to push Sasuke away from him, running toward home. Sasuke remained in the same position, stunned expression seemingly chiseled into his face. Blinking, Sasuke brought a hand up to his cheek and felt Naruto's residual tears there, a crushing sense of déjà vu overtaking him. _Again you've left me to puzzle over your sorrow, Naruto._

The Uchiha picked himself carefully up and, after extinguishing the burning end of Naruto's cigarette with his worn black sandal, walked slowly back to Konoha.

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A/N – …I just realized that if you took the middle of this chapter and replaced every "Sasuke" with a "Hinata" and every "Uchiha" with a "Hyuga," then this chapter would be pretty much the same story as my other SasuNaru fic "Without You." I fail. T.T


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